Melinda Patrick
Magnolia, Texas

Melinda’s bright acrylic paintings feel like snapshots of everyday life. Her cheery compositions capture glimpses of what a carefree passerby may notice on a sunny weekend afternoon. Main street signage, casual cafes, and outdoor leisure areas leave the viewer nostalgic for summer vacations passed. Melinda’s subject matter comes from her personal snapshots. “I take thousands of photos everywhere I go,” she says. Then, back in her home studio, she uses her pictures as reference material, but takes creative license with colors and composition. Her bold yet crisp use of color, shadow, and shape speaks to her professional background in graphic design, and results in compelling examples of contemporary realism.

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Artist Statement

I am drawn to the images of the people and places in and around my native Texas as well as other parts of the US. I bring to the work a snapshot of what I see and how I see the world around me. Scenes of everyday life at home or in my travels speak to me. Houses and shops that make up our past and current lives intrigue me. I was interested in art from an early age and was mentored by my grandfather, an accomplished photographer and painter. Earning my Bachelor of Fine Art at the San Francisco Art Institute, I developed my art in oil. Many years spent as a graphic designer has changed my perspective and my recent medium of preference is acrylics. I use the fast drying time of acrylics to achieve crisp results. While I do work in other mediums, such as gouache and ink, it's acrylics on canvas that capture most of my creative spirit. My work has been described as fresh with intriguing color, deep contrast, and is labeled by most as contemporary realism. My paintings are my interpretation of the beauty in the ordinary world around us all.

Artist Background

San Francisco Art InstituteBachelor of Fine Arts, 1973

Speak with Melinda

Melinda Patrick 1/12/2018 | 9:46 AM

I know there is a snobbery about oils vs acrylics. I first tried acrylics when I was a kid and Liquitex was the only brand and had a limited palette.
I didn't really like them and worked in oils like my grandfather taught me all through college. But the new millennium brought a new attitude towards acrylics for me. All the sudden there were several brands and a rainbow palette. I found myself loving the quick drying feature of acrylics. There was no turning back for me.
Then I heard a lot of poo-pooing about acrylics. They weren't valued the same as oils. But the educated art buyer knows better. A lot of well-known artists whose work sells for big money work in acrylics. Yes, you read that right.
• Ever heard of Robert Motherwell? Check out his "Elegy to the Spanish Republic."
• How about Roy Lichtenstein? He used acrylics a lot, including for his best known work, "Drowning Girl."
• Mark Rothko? Oh yeah. "No. 13 (White, Red on Yellow)."
• Thomas Hart Benton. I'm not making this up. He created several studies of "The Bicyclist" in oil and watercolor but the final was in (oh yeah) acrylics.
• David Hockney painted several California swimming pools in acrylic.
• That rebel Andy Warhol painted his soup cans in acrylics.
I say great minds think alike. See one of my first acrylic paintings at my blog at melindapatrickpaintings.com